


Guardian Spirit

by Orcinus_the_Orca



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Contest Entry, Gen, I'm not sure what to do for tags, Roleswap, Spirits, Takes place before Sonic Adventure 2, Tikal needs more love, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25618405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orcinus_the_Orca/pseuds/Orcinus_the_Orca
Summary: Tikal is the guardian of Angel Island and, in turn, the Master Emerald. Knuckles is a spirit who has chosen to stay by her side. They do their best with what they have.
Relationships: Knuckles the Echidna & Tikal the Echidna
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Guardian Spirit

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, all! This here is a contest entry made for the Role Reversal challenge on the Sonic Amino. I had a lot of fun writing this piece. I hope you all enjoy!

Fire.

There was a lot of fire.

Strained muscles struggled to stand, lungs were choked by smoke. Vision blurred, sounds muddled, stomach lurched––was the world spinning?

Shouts rang out; a body hit the ground meters away. A monstrous shriek echoed through the air, a chief’s voice roared back.

Violet eyes widened in horror.

“Stop!”

C:C:

Sand crunched under sandaled feet, adding to a melody sung from soft lips. Birds of different kinds called from the trees, their lives unhindered while they pulled grapes from vines. The fanned leaves above bobbed up and down, casting their cooling shadows over the sunkissed shore. Clouds lost on their travels drifted aimlessly across the land, dotting the scape with gatherings of fog.

Tikal drew in a deep breath, freshly laid dew and a salty breeze filling her lungs. Life flooded into her, the color growing in her cheeks. Blue eyes opened to look beyond, knowing how close she was to the edge of the land. Aware of the descent into an endless ocean. To be so close felt so enthralling. Forbidden.

Tikal inched a little closer, wondering how far she could see. Grains of sand toppled over in her wake, lost to the wind and water before she realized. Just as quickly, Tikal’s attention was divided to stare back at the ocean, heart pounding with delight. She could see the backs of thousands of birds from where she stood, their cries unheard as they flocked across roaring waters. Tikal’s chest tightened, her hands clenched at her knees as she leaned a little bit closer.

“If you fall, I can’t go after you.”

Tikal startled, body nearly hurdling over the edge had she not thrown herself to her back. The magic of the scene instantly faded as she held up a hand, palm up, to ward off the intruding voice. Her other hand lowered itself to her heart, hoping to ease the racing beats.

Only when it had settled, did Tikal lower her guard and look up, “Must you always sneak up on me?”

An orb, bright red in color, grumbled in return. It hovered mere inches from the girl’s face, its glow fluctuated while it bobbed up and down. It spoke in a tongue Tikal did not understand, but the sound was deep and apologetic.. The young echidna sighed but smiled, reaching over to “pat” the spirit’s side.

“Thank you for your concern, Knuckles. It does mean a lot,” Tikal said softly.

The orb stopped its grumbling and hovered silently for the next few moments before grumbling a “well someone has to.”

Giggling, Tikal got to her feet and moved away from the world’s edge. She stepped back onto the path, but she slowed her pace. In response, the spirit followed, darting about her head in wild circles. Tikal did her best to ignore it, but the constant shift of colors was gravitating. 

“So, uh,” the orb was suddenly near her ear, the fluctuating glow haunting her peripheral, “did you sleep well?”

“Hm?” Tikal blinked. “Ah, yes, I did. How about you?”

“I don’t...I don’t need to sleep.”

“Ah, right.”

Both parties fell into silence with Tikal folding her arms tightly against her chest. She had hoped that after two weeks she would be used to the other company, be comfortable with “family” in her life again. Having come home from an adventure, one still too complicated to wrap her head around, she thought she could relax and return to life on Angel Island. And when the spirit––unknown but still blood––had shown itself, Tikal had tried to think it a good thing. A return to normalcy. But that was difficult when the spirit happens to be your deceased ancestor.

“By the way!” Knuckles’ voice exclaimed, shaking Tikal from her thoughts. “Since I wasn’t sleeping, I was thinking of good hiding places. I was thinking about the desert.”

“The desert?” Tikal echoed. She shook her thoughts clear, “Hiding places? What do I need to hide?”

The orb darted back in her face, his light nearly blinding, “The Master Emerald, of course! After what Chaos did, people are bound to have heard of it. We need to hide it somewhere safe. Just for a little while.”

Tikal frowned, staring up at the orb she could so clearly imagine grinning victoriously. The echidna shook her head, combed a hand through her quills, and moved through the spirit.

“Angel Island is where the Master Emerald belongs. It would be wrong to move it. Besides,” she looked over her shoulder, “creatures live here too.”

Knuckles grumbled under his breath, but he did not debate any further. This was not the first time they had had this conversation, and neither believed it would be their last. The two finished their walk in uncomfortable silence.

C:C:

Tikal was tending to a bed of flowers, adjusting the places of lilies and gardenias and carnations while she hummed an age-old lullaby. Her hands moved methodically, careful not to pluck the wanted plants but unrelenting when removing the weeds—bees buzzed by her ear, curious but not yet worried to consider the girl a threat.

Knuckles was hovering overhead, still a sphere but much brighter in glow. He darted to and fro around the bed, pausing to scrutinize a bud before he would dart off to check another. Occasionally, the spirit would call and direct Tikal’s attention to an overlooked weed, but no other words would be exchanged.

Finally, when the last weed had been pulled from its place, Tikal sat back on her knees, “I think that’s enough done here. We should work on the shrine a little.”

The red orb emerged from the center of the bed, phasing easily through the foliage and into the open. Accepting the silent compliance, Tikal led the way home with the lullaby resuming on her lips. Knuckles followed closely, refusing to stray any further than five feet. 

“So…” Knuckles’ voice suddenly started, bringing Tikal to a halt, “Is this all you do with your life?”

Tikal turned her head; bright blue eyes reflected the hazy orb, “H-how, do you mean?”

“This. Gardening, housework, protecting that rock,” he bit the last word out. “Is it all there is? Do you have nothing else?”

Tikal paused, pondering the question. It had never come to mind before, her life on Angel Island was all she had known. For generations, her ancestors had made themselves a home on the land to appease the sins committed by the Last Chief. They never had the option of “something else,” all they needed was provided there. It was enough stability to keep the family from ever considering the idea of leaving.

Until three years ago.

“Oi, are you o–”

“No, there’s nothing else, really,” Tikal smiled at the orb, tilting her head to provide her best grin. “Besides, it’s my duty now to watch over the Master Emerald. It would be wrong to neglect it for other things.”

For a brief moment, Tikal thought of the spirit frowning at her. It made her uneasy, but when she tried to speak, Knuckles interrupted with a soft grunt. The conversation was over, he decided, and they moved on.

Tikal no longer felt like singing her song, and the spirit seemed to be in one of his “thinking moments.” The orange echidna turned her eyes upwards, hoping to distract herself with the rolling clouds that now drifted a little higher. She thought about forming pictures with them, perhaps play a game with red spirit, only for her attention to be snatched by a dark speck.

“Is that a bird?” Tikal inquired of her ancestor.

They both stopped, both trailing the speck in the sky. Tikal refused to let her eyes fall from it, noticing how it enlarged as it descended onto her island. Humanly large. The girl’s stomach sunk.

“That’s a person!” Knuckles called out, shooting towards Tikal’s right ear, “The Master Emerald is in danger!”

Tikal’s throat felt like closing, the words ‘not again’ echoing in her head. She had only just returned home, and the world was still returning to normal. People couldn’t be that desperate, could they? She glanced at Knuckles, her heart clenched. 

Yes, they could.

“Come on, come on!” Knuckles shouted as he took the lead. Tikal shook out of her stupor and called back, chasing after the red orb in the shrine’s direction. Already she was praying to Chaos.

C:C:

Tikal yelped when she was shoved behind a line of bushes. She glanced up at the offending orb, tilting her head in silent question, but Knuckles did not respond. Tikal sighed before giving up and peeking over their shelter. Instantly her eyes were drawn to the massive structure of stone centered amid floral jungle and guarded by pillars of matching material. Plantlife was beginning to crawl its way up the construct, moss patching the chipping temple. There were two layers to the build, accessible only by hand-carved stone steps that were cracking from age. It all stood for one purpose: to house a single emerald whose power held up the suspended land. It had stood there for millennia.

What hadn’t been there for millennia was a Mobian woman waiting at the foot of the etched stairs. She couldn’t have been older than her early twenties. She stood with her hands perched on her hips, body angled to her left. Black clothes fit tightly against her body, pure white hair cut shoulder-length, and she was leaning oddly close to her wrist. Large, black wings protruded from her back and twitched with the wind. Tikal was left mesmerized; she had never seen anyone like her.

“Okay, so you’re going to punch her–”

“What?!” Tikal jumped, whipping around so fast the orb flinched back. “We can’t just attack her!”

“She’s trespassing,” Knuckles countered, his voice harsher. “She’s no doubt after the Master Emerald.”

“You don’t know that,” Tikal huffed. “What if she’s lost or exploring? You can’t just randomly attack people.”

“Yes, you can,” Knuckles scoffed. “You’re a descendant of warriors.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t make it right,” Tikal snapped back, clapping her hands over her mouth at the last moment.

“I was wondering if someone lived here,” a very feminine voice said from above. Tikal stole a glance up, feeling blood drum in her ears when she met the piercing gaze of the female. The woman smirked as she leaned over the bush, cupping her face in her hand. “What’s your name, hon?”

An introduction? Tikal felt herself relax. She knew from experience meetings starting like this usually didn’t end in violence. Tentatively, the echidna got to her feet and extended a hand up to the stranger.

“I’m Tikal,” the echidna greeted with her friendliest smile. “What’s your name?”

The woman regarded the hand for a moment, an eyeridge arching in silent question. Tikal felt her nerves begin to buzz, but when she looked down to seek her spirit-friend, she found him no longer there. If not for the manners instilled by her mother, Tikal would have cursed.

“Rouge,” Tikal’s open hand was finally clasped in a hearty shake, “Rouge the Bat. You got a nice collection here, Tikal.”

“C-collection?” Tikal repeated once she had her hand back. Her eyes darted about in search of help, but it seemed they were the only ones. Even the birds had vacated. 

“Well, what else would I mean?” Rouge giggled behind her hand. With a wave of her other hand, she gestured to the old shrine behind her, “You have your own private island, everything on it, not to mention that gem you have on top of all that.”

“A-ah,” Tikal rubbed the back of her neck, diverting her attention to the side. “Thank you. Um, if I may ask, what are you doing here?”

The female’s head tilted to the side, a smirk spreading across her muzzle, “Oh, you know, the usual. Soaking in the sights, seeing the birds, taking a gander at your treasures.”

With every passing word, Tikal felt her stomach tighten and her fists clench. She didn’t like how the conversation kept going to the Master Emerald, multiple alarms were already going off in her head. She took a step back, fear tugging at her mind.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Tikal proceeded, watching the bat’s every twitch. “This is private property.”

Rouge tilted her head, the smirk still framing her expression, “Is that so? What a shame. And here I was hoping to do something legal for this job.”

“Wha–?” Tikal’s voice was cut short. Something hard had struck her legs, sweeping any support and leaving her to the ground with a loud grunt. Tikal bit back a scream, feeling how her back and tail burned with pain. Rouge was already moving, leaving the ground to beat her wings.

“No!” Tikal scrambled to her feet, ignoring all pain to grab hold of the woman’s leg with all her strength. Rouge made a startled sound, glancing down at the female clinging to her.

“Oh, knock that off, will you?” Rouge reprimanded. Her expression morphed into a grimaced as poised herself to kick the guardian off. Before she could strike, Tikal began to climb Rouge’s body faster than the bat could attack. The intruder grunted, feeling claws digging into her skin.

“What are you–?” Rouge gasped as hands began pulling at her wings. The bat thrashed under the grasp, but Tikal held firm, tightening her grip to limit the movements. It didn’t take long before both bodies were plummeting back to earth.

Rouge cursed, hurrying to change their positions so that she was the one on top. She held Tikal down, grunting as they slammed into the ground. The clothes Tikal wore were torn against the small rocks and roots, drawing blood across her back.

Rouge panted, pushing herself up once they had stopped moving. She glared down at the girl under her, waiting to confirm her enemy unconscious when a foot shoved itself into her abdomen. Rouge was thrown off, nausea coming over her in waves as she stumbled to keep her composure. Tikal rose, cut and bruised but unwilling to stand down. Rouge grimaced.

“I’ll give you one thing…” Rouge laughed, wiping the dirt from her face, “I underestimated you. Looked like an average girl.”

Tikal huffed, raising her fists to guard, “I will tell you again, leave this island now. I do not enjoy violence, but I will fight. This is your last warning.”

At that moment, Tikal felt quite proud of herself for her improvised speech. It was not often that she came across opponents such as these; she almost felt professional. Rouge, however, did not share the same amusement.

Rouge jumped into the air, unfurling her wings to kick up the loose debris made by their previous fight. Tikal stumbled back, shielding her eyes from the dirt at the last moment. She hacked and fought her way out of the cloud, but by the time she managed free, Rouge’s silhouette was already at the shrine’s peak.

Blue eyes widened in horror.

“Stop!”

C:C:

Rouge landed gracefully on the limestone floor, heels clicking as she folded her wings neatly. Her ears twitched in the direction she had left Tikal, the woman shrugging the off the girl’s cries. She was much more concerned with the massive emerald before her left conveniently unguarded. The gemstone, three times her size, shone brightly within its ring of stone. She could feel how powerful it was just by looking, the raw chaos energy tugging her forward.

Rouge grinned, “My, my, my you’re even better than I could have dreamed!”

The bat reached out, fingers poised to run across the shining surface when a hand snatched her wrist. Rouge froze in place, allowing only her head to jerk up and stare. An echidna stood there, mere inches from her face with his dark, violet eyes digging into her soul. His muzzle was tufted with dark fur. Stripes of white streaked across faded, red quills. His clothes were out-dated, ripped and bloodied, but he could not have been older than sixteen.

Considering the echidna was floating, see-through, and a ghost, he was probably ancient.

Rouge was quick to steel her expression, grinning back at the spirit. The echidna did not change, and his hand tightened around her wrist.

“Hey, big guy,” Rouge cooed, giving her trapped hand a testing twist. “Hah, it seems this place is more fortified than I thought.”

The echidna’s eyes narrowed, but his lips drew back into a dangerous grin. Rouge had only a moment to duck before a spiked fist came soaring towards her face. Though he was only a spirit, Rouge felt the passing of wind as the punch brushed past her cheek. The bat quickly yanked herself free, using her wings to send her back and add distance between them.

“Ow,” Rouge winced once she was standing. She rubbed at her wrist, glancing down to watch the skin turn red. She chewed her lip.

“The Master Emerald and I are linked,” the apparition began to speak, his voice gruff but confident. He mimed walking up to her, wisps of red crawling back to the large stone that rested on its platform. “The closer I am to it, the more physical I become. That includes my power.”

To demonstrate, the echidna smashed his fists together. Rouge flinched and shot a glance over her shoulder, turquoise eyes scrutinizing the floor. She could see something orange scurrying up the steps, not too fast, but would prove problematic if she didn’t hurry.

Turning back to the spirit, Rouge crouched and prepared to burst into the air just as she had done moments before. Just as she had jumped, a hand grabbed her ankle and hurled her back to the ground. Rouge rolled across the top floor, nearly tumbling over the shrine’s edge.

“I can do this all day,” the echidna grinned. He went to crack his fingers, frowning a moment after when no sound came from them.

Rouge scrambled to her feet quickly, immediately shifting to the defensive. The orange speck she had seen a moment before was no doubt much closer. With two enemies to combat, there was no way she would be able to make off with such a massive stone. And if she retreated now, there was no assurance the echidnas would stay.

In a state of complete fear, Rouge pulled back to strike the echidna with a side-kick to the head. Considering he had managed to grab her twice, she figured he would just as well be firm. With a satisfying crack, her leg made contact. Only not with the target she wanted.

In future events, when the topic was presented, both Rouge and Knuckles would blame the beginnings of the incident on the other. But neither would deny that it was Rouge’s kick that shattered the Master Emerald.

In a light that left Rouge blind, the world ignited with green. She brought her hands up to shield her face, but she soon bowed to avoid debris. Sharp stone bit into her skin, traces of Chaos energy seeping into her body. The bat was too afraid to move.

When her vision had returned, she immediately looked to her treasure. She prayed that it was safe, that it had only been the spirit that had exploded. But the empty place in the shrine’s center confirmed her fears. All this work, her body damaged, for nothing.

“No!” Rouge’s ear angled towards the steps, and another curse slipped. She unfurled her wings, taking to the sky just as the echidna girl reached the end of the stairs.

C:C:

Tikal was not the fastest; she could not deny it. That did not mean she didn’t throw herself up the temple stairs, tripping over the crumbling stone to save a single gem. Her back screamed in protest, begging that she rest for only a moment. Tikal ignored it, putting everything into climbing the top of the spire.

Her work paid off, and she made it in time to have her spirits crushed. Tikal could see no emerald other than what remained of its bottom, still lodged into the stone. The power it once emanated was weak, hardly there. Struggling. The bat was gone too, and Tikal had no other choice but to imagine the worst-case scenario. Tikal fell to her knees, bowing her head to the aging limestone.

She had failed as a guardian.

Again.

Tears slipped down her dirtied cheeks, soft crying transitioning into messy sobs. She begged forgiveness from her ancestors, namely her grandmother and mother, to whom she had sworn in the first place. She could see their faces, glowering down at her in disappointment. Her mother, with her soft voice, suddenly harsh as she denounced her daughter. Tikal screamed at the thought, the non-existing words resounding in her head.

“H-hey!”

A voice, a male’s, spoke. It was loud; it had probably been shouting. Tikal lifted her tear-tracked face, a red orb inches from her face. She wasn’t thinking. The girl allowed fresh tears to flow as she embraced the spirit.

“I-I’m so-so sorry!” Tikal wailed, holding Knuckles’ soul closer. “I sh-should have done better. I should have followed your advice...”

Tikal tilted her face to press into the spirit, sniveling into his side. She did not stop to think of her actions, of how her parents would respond to her display of weakness. She didn’t want to let go, not of the one comfort she had left on this lonesome island.

“Hey, hey,” Knuckles spoke, his voice soft against her ear. The orb hovered closer, pressing up into her chin and coaxing her to calm down. Tikal obeyed, but she continued to hiccup, and the tears would still flow. Knuckles sighed, and the sphere pressed tight against her, “Listen...you did a good job.”

“No, I didn’t!” Tikal immediately shrieked, forcing the echidna-spirit back. The red orb hovered there, watching her, but did not move. Tikal shuddered as she covered her mouth, “I-I failed you...again!”

“Yeah, and?” Knuckles shot back, his voice outdoing hers. “Don’t think I wasn’t watching. I saw you trying to hold her back. I saw you keeping her down there. And because of that, you did a good job…You did better than I ever could.”

Tikal refused to give in, shaking her head rapidly while images of family flashed before her eyes, “I should have– I should have done more.”

“Like what?” The spirit snapped, finally getting closer to her face. Tikal leaped back. “That bat wasn’t here to fight. She wanted the Master Emerald and that’s all. She approached you because she thought you were an easy target. You proved her wrong; you scared her. There was nothing more you could have done.”

Tikal stammered, “B-but–”

“No!” Knuckles yelled back, bringing Tikal to flinch again. The spirit grumbled before lowering his voice, “unless you could have sprouted wings or learned to spontaneously fly, it was one-sided. Trust me. You did alright.”

Tikal sniffed and rubbed at her face, ridding the mess her face had become. The orb waited, remaining perfectly still until she had finished. When her blue eyes opened, Knuckles spoke.

“You good?”

Tikal nodded, wiping away a stray tear.

Knuckles made a pleased noise, “Good. Now, grab that shard over there; we’ve got a Master Emerald to assemble, and I’m not leaving you to do it alone.”

Tikal blinked in confusion, watching the spirit dart near the base of the Master Emerald. He directed her attention to the base, where a single shard had lodged itself in a crack. The echidna girl gasped and jumped to her feet, hurrying to snatch the piece into her hands and holding it to her chest. The emerald of the temple pulsed, as though silently acknowledging her minuscule discovery.

You’ll really come with me?” Tikal asked, holding out the shard for the spirit to see. The orb hovered closer, analyzing the green shard in her palm. He came in contact, and, for a brief instant, the image of a grinning, red echidna dressed in tribal garb stood next to her. It was gone just as fast, but the grin and kind eyes remained etched in her mind.

“I’d be a sucky guardian angel if I didn’t,” Knuckles joked as he darted closer to her shoulder.

Tikal giggled, prodding the spirit with her finger, “Well, you’re not a very good angel considering you need a rock to go anywhere.”

“Oi!”

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is greatly appreciated <3


End file.
